I was thinking of getting a couch or something for my room, somewhere for guests to lounge around.
Fuck new couches. I now have a ball pit in my room.
I talked a little bit to Mike Machenry, who built a ball pit last year after reading my comic about it. The big problem with ball pits is that they’re expensive. Filling a room costs on the order of $4000, give or take. You can use this calculator (set up by relsqui of #xkcd) to find the cost for a given room. I’d use 64% for the packing efficiency — that’s about what I’ve found.
So given the expense, I didn’t fill my whole room — just an area the size of the bed, to a depth of a couple feet — and even that cost as much as a reasonable couch. The cost was as high as it was largely because Mike strongly recommended crush-proof balls, which allows for a lot more roughhousing but cost about twice as much as regular ones on eBay.
But it was totally worth it. After seeing how much fun it is to lounge around in it, we’ve decided to get together and build a larger one in the living room and throw parties there (though we want to solve the cleaning problem first in a scalable way). The day we put it up, we spent probably twelve hours, on and off, lounging around throwing plastic balls at each other. It’s totally worth it, and everyone’s excited about expanding it. It’s wonderful to be able to wake up and roll sideways, blanket and all, into a ball pit, and sink slowly down to the bottom. I’ve padded it with pillows and blankets to make it more fun to, uhh, wallow, or whatever the appropriate verb is for ball pits.
And before you jump to comment — over the last 24 hours we’ve completely exhausted all the balls-related innuendo, so you needn’t bother.
Here are some more pictures:
Abby, on the left, descends slowly into the balls. We never did find her again.
As Mike discovered, you can sort the balls pretty quickly by throwing only certain colors away from yourself.
Everyone I know seems to use Fujitsu Lifebooks. ❤ ultraportables.
To the above situation, we can only say:
xkcd 
Albert:
Married, 1 17-month old. Not a regular commenter, but frequent lurker. And the ball-pit is pure win. Even better for the family-man. Not only do you enhance your geek-cred, your kid has the coolest house in the neighborhood. which may not enhance their geekiness, come to think of it, but that’s what the klingon after-school program is for.
.
.
.
j/k. about the klingon.
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Some friends of mine created a “funball” pit in their dorm room when I was in college. (Sound familiar? ) They solved the cleaning problem pretty easily: dorm washing machines. Works surprisingly well, just don’t put them in the dryer.
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I love you.
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You know, at first I felt sad for this, in the “I live a dull life” sad, but then I realized it’s not true! I mean, I do carry a pocket microscope in my koala bag to look at insects, my skin, rice grains from my food, and anything that catches my fancy! I’m not a lost case 😀
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Bravo.
I am jealous.
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That is friggin sweet! You should go all the way and fill a gymnasium.
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So Cool! Too bad it’s a bit pricey, or else I’d have a few less free square meters in my room by next week.
And to the people who ask ‘Why?’ or just don’t like it… *points* It’s a frikkin ball pit! In his room! How’s that *not* to like? I can’t actually find any reasons *not* to build one myself, apart from the financial and logistical ones.
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And an addition: I did a bit of research, and it seems we can get 500 new 6-cm balls (about 2.3 inches) for E68 over here (=Netherlands). If they’re a bit sturdy, I think I’m gonna buy three packs; that should be enough to get myself my own bed-sized ball-pit. Just mailed the seller; I hope the balls are the crush-proof variant.
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Damn, he Rickrolled us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Easiest way to clean = mesh bags or a large waterproof net:
1. Buy a moderate size kiddie pool
2. Fill with cleaning fluid and water
3. Net/Bag balls and dunk/shake to clean
4. Hose off or dunk in a rinse pool to rinse off
5. No clue how to dry them …maybe a bunch of blow dryers attached to a garage door frame facing inward (like a DIY end of the car wash); hang the bags/net to dry the balls
6. Replace in room
Nicely done, the ball pit is awesome.
I also like the metal cube pieces to keep it all in place. Being that I have a bunch of those at college and there is nothing in the code of conduct about ball pits…..
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You made hackaday!
http://www.hackaday.com/2007/11/30/friday-i-want-a-ball-pit-extra/
Also, you just need some large diamater hose of some type and rig up a vaccum on it so you can suck all the balls out and deposit them into a net; once you’ve done this you can then follow any of the other cleaning ideas. Cause I think getting the balls into the net is very time consuming.
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hm. i want to have sex in it. please?
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This made me understand what exactly “warm and fuzzy inside” means.
You are a great person.
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Why do you need a vacuum to get the balls in a net? Just line the pen with one!
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Ok, I’m jealous. That is by far, the coolest thing that I have ever seen done inside of a house. How many balls are there?
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Respectfully Sis Should learn to overlook the small stuff or she will miss out on a lot of life. Gettin it on with a fine lady in the pit sounds fun, but I really doubt others would want to be the next to enter the pit, afterwards. I wouldn’t. Anyway a far out project
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Nice to see another group of people with a ball pit. Six months ago, some of of us at EA Tiburon pooled upwards of $2,000 to buy around 170 packs of 100 balls, selling out every Toys-R-Us in the area every week for around four weeks. The end result was turning a table-enclosed space in one of our conference rooms into a ball pit.
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cKXZdqL3tk
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCUF8yRSW-U
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static: Hence the necessity of easy-to-perform ball cleaning mechanisms.
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To pay for the ball costs, charge a cover fee for the first few ball pit parties.
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Just wondering: how much do those balls weigh? One day, I would like to make a 3-story pit leading to a secret lair. I am wondering if it would be crushing pressure by the end…
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so jealous!!!
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i could only imagine how much stuff you could lost had you dropped it into your ball pit…
you’d be trying to find your car keys for WEEKS.
…totally worth it, tho.
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and i didn’t appreciate the rickrolling, either! ; ___ ;
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Ohhhh, you.
You’ve modded my feelings and h4x0red my heart.
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this site is very beautiful and interesting site. i liked it http://www.kaplicam.net http://www.shipshaq.com
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352 is PERFECT.
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Ball Pit!? Awesome!
*ponders* I wonder if my fiance will let me have a ball pit… Hmmm.
I’ve always loved that comic it’s one of my favourites (on a related note the current *hug* comic is especially applicable to my current state of affairs).
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If you made a minimalist Python shirt in your characteristic style, I would totally buy it.
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Me, too.
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Get on the Ruby crack-train. I hear Python is more popular with pedantic minds, but Ruby is both beautiful, flexible, crazy, and not white-space dependent.
class Foo
def bar
[1,3,3,7]
end
end
Foo.new.bar.join
Lots of very cool projects in Ruby, too.
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Ray: the balls weigh almost nothing, 3 stories would probably not create any crushing-problems. But climbing up again in the ball-pit might be hard! Anyway, a secret underball-lair is a great idea!
Sprite_tm: you need about 4000 6cm balls for one m^3. You can get them cheaper on ebay, I just got 500 for under 25 euro, shipping included (and they can be squeezed in a box of 50cm^3). I was a bit lucky, but 1000 for 50,- excl. shipping (from germany) should be no problem at all. They are rather crush-proof (you can stand on them) and very pretty (translucent!).
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import sys
import CGIHTTPServer
import BaseHTTPServer
# Use supplied port
if sys.argv[1:] :
port = int(sys.argv[1])
else :
port = 8008
addr = (”,port)
handler = CGIHTTPServer.CGIHTTPRequestHandler
httpd = BaseHTTPServer.HTTPServer(addr, handler)
sa = httpd.socket.getsockname()
print “Serving HTTP on”, sa[0], “port”, sa[1], “…”
httpd.serve_forever()
# Can you believe this is a webserver?
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Congratulations! XKCD is raptor proof!
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=xkcd&word2=velociraptors
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Well dose that mean that we need to worry about Batman?
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=xkcd&word2=batman
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Well damn! I -must- have one of my own.
Or, just find where you live and mooch! ^_^
I love how most of the comics turn into some form of a trend.
❤
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Now all you need is the firepole, and you will have brought essence to dreams of my circle of friends from college.
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Y’know I love this comic and all, hell I quote it daily, but I have had the saddening feeling for the last couple of weeks that it’s “jumped the shark” so to speak. there just doesn’t seem to be that same kind of, well, whatever is (was) that makes the xkcd comics so special. Randall, I some how get the impression that you’ve run out of material and are trying too hard to come up with ‘funny’. Perhaps my standards are too high but thats just what i think.
Thank for the great comic, it’s brought me and my friends much happiness over its run, but i don’t think i’ll be popping in quite so often from now on.
Adios
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I’d love to do that someday… but it just doesn’t seems to sound as comfy as a nice, puffy couch.
Plus you can get free furniture from craigslist in my area.
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I could use some of those ‘crush-proof balls’ for my dirt-bike…
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just run them through the dishwasher in several loads on a low temperature after parties. it’s kind of labor intensive but what the hell, it’s a ball pit party right?
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